People

Philipp Behrens was born in Dannenberg (east of Lüneburg) in 1776 as the third son of the "Schutzjude" Beermann Behrens and his wife Frommet. He thus belonged to the extended Behrens/Ahrons family. It was with this family that the establishment of a Jewish community in Lüneburg had begun at the end of the 17th century.

Philipp Behrens came to Lüneburg in the early 1790s to work for the banker Moses Selig Gans, who was married to Philipp"s distant cousin Elkana Gans, née Ahrons. In contemporary documents, Philipp is first referred to as a “servant” or ‘valet’, later as a “merchant”. During the Napoleonic era, he began to set up his own business as a tradesman.

In 1816, he himself was recognized as a "protected Jew" in Lüneburg. Philipp married Adele Bramson, who was the daughter of Isaak and Hitzel Bramson from Altona. Together they had four children. Two of them, Friederike and Bernhard, later remained in Lüneburg.

Philipp Behrens was one of the first members of the Jewish community who initially lived in the town as "Schutzjuden" and then finally became citizens of Lüneburg in the course of the emancipation of the Jews in 1843. He was a bustling entrepreneur who was at the same time a furniture dealer, paper manufacturer and paper merchant.

The family home and business premises were located in a historic building at the corner of Am Markt 6 and Bäckerstraße. Philipp Behrens had already lived and worked here as an employee of Moses Gans. He was also his heir. After Moses Gans" death in 1839, Philipp Behrens became the owner of the house.

Philipp Behrens died in Lüneburg in 1854 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery. His widow Adele died in 1869 and her son Bernhard Behrens continued the business in Lüneburg.


Sources and info:

Moses Gans" will, set up in 1837, opened in April 1839; Lüneburg Town Archives, AA 6714